As the adage goes, necessity is the mother of invention. When George Lucas couldn’t acquire the rights to Flash Gordon, he created Star Wars. When Sam Raimi couldn’t acquire the rights to The Shadow, he created Darkman. And when Charles Band couldn’t acquire the rights to Doctor Strange, he created Doctor Mordrid.
The story goes that Band, the B-movie maven behind Full Moon Entertainment, had in fact optioned Doctor Strange from Marvel Comics, but the rights were lost before production began. Instead of scrapping the project, it was repurposed. Band incorporated elements from an unmade effort from his Empire Pictures days titled Doctor Mortalis, which boasted concept art by comic book legend Jack Kirby (co-creator of Captain America, Thor, and Fantastic Four, among others).
Band co-directs Doctor Mordrid with his veteran filmmaker father, Albert Band (Ghoulies II, I Bury the Living). Frequent collaborator C. Courtney Joyner (Class of 1999, Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge) was tasked with writing a script that would avoid copyright infringement. Produced by Band for Full Moon, the film debuted on VHS in 1992 courtesy of Paramount.
Genre favorite Jeffrey Combs stars in the titular role. A master of the unknown, Dr. Anton Mordrid is the alter ego of an age-old sorcerer that represents all that is good. He has guarded Earth for over 100 “man years” from his malevolent counterpart, Kabal (Brian Thompson). When Kabal threatens to unleash the demons of the fourth dimension, Mordrid finds an unlikely partner in his neighbor, research consultant Samantha (Yvette Nipar, RoboCop: The Series), to stop the evil.
Despite efforts to distance Doctor Mordrid from Doctor Strange, enough similarities remain that one can imagine a modern attempt being met with litigation from Disney. Mordrid practices astral projection, draws power from a mysterious amulet necklace akin to the Eye of Agamotto, resides in headquarters vaguely resembling the Sanctum Sanctorum, and fights a villain not unlike Dormammu.
Doctor Mordrid was almost certainly greenlit in an attempt to cash in on the success of Tim Burton’s Batman, but, surprisingly, it’s not a proto-mockbuster. It would have been easy for Band to lean into the dark elements, and indeed his horror roots occasionally show through, but the campy spectacle is tonally more in line with 1978’s Superman or 1980’s Flash Gordon (on a fraction of the budget).
If not for one gratuitous – albeit tastefully shot, thanks to cinematographer Adolfo Bartoli (The Pit and the Pendulum, Puppet Master 3-5) – nude scene and some crass language, Doctor Mordrid could be mistaken for a family fantasy movie. What kid wouldn’t be fascinated by a finale in which dinosaur skeletons attack? Though the other optical effects are charmingly dated, the stop-motion creatures are impressively rendered by David Allen (Bride of Re-Animator, Puppet Master), who also recycles a stop-motion werewolf from The Howling as one of Kabal’s minions.
Mordrid’s New York City apartment features lavish production design by Milo (Puppet Master 4-5, House IV), for which a good portion of the budget seems to have been allocated. Save for the museum showdown at the end – shot on location at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles – the other sets look bare comparatively. Despite the fate of the planet being at stake, the film’s low budget, underdeveloped script, and rushed pacing makes the 74-minute film somewhat underwhelming.
In a 1994 interview with Imagi-Movies, Combs expressed his complicated feelings about Doctor Mordrid: “I would have liked to have had the character be a little bit more active. He could have used a little more humor. I found myself just standing around reacting to what everybody else was doing, as opposed to instigating things myself. That’s a very difficult thing to sustain as an actor.”
Nevertheless, Combs is no stranger to working within the restraints of a Band production. He brings an erudite charisma similar to his starring turn as Herbert West in Re-Animator, though this time without planting his tongue in cheek. Thompson slips right into the over-the-top villain role; something he has done both before and since in the likes of Cobra, Fright Night Part 2, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. More than just a pretty face, Nipar is presented as intellectual and strong in spite of the two-dimensional character.
Nepotism be damned, the score is composed by Albert’s other son, Richard Band (Re-Animator, Puppet Master); a workhorse composer whose music consistently elevates low budget productions (many of them made by his brother). His Doctor Mordrid cues are clearly inspired by Danny Elfman’s Batman work, though the film’s darker moments allow him to play in a familiar wheelhouse. The multigenerational family affair also features brief appearances by Charles’s then-wife, Debra Dion, and young, mulleted son, Alex Band.
Before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness demonstrates the dangers of interdimensional travel, you can see an alternate version of the character that already exists in our universe. Doctor Mordrid is available on Blu-ray (which includes the original VideoZone behind-the-scenes featurette that played after the movie on VHS) from Full Moon and is streaming for free on Tubi. It’s also scheduled to be riffed on the upcoming thirteenth season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
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